


In Your Hands

by james



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst Mentioned, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-08-28 10:25:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: Sometimes Bucky needs help to relax.  Tony loves to provide.





	In Your Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [its_inherited](https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_inherited/gifts).



Bucky sat down on the floor, right in front of where Tony was sprawled on the sofa. The movie had already started, but Bucky didn't care. It didn't look like SciFi, which meant Tony wouldn't be ranting and insulting it throughout, which was mostly all he wanted tonight.

He was exhausted, tense, and ready to do nothing but sit near his boyfriend in one of the safest places he had available. The _safest_ place was Tony's workshop, because of JARVIS and the weapons hidden throughout the place, some of which Bucky thought he wasn't supposed to know about. The second safest was Tony's bedroom, though that was probably because of the soft blankets and mountain of pillows making it seem safe, rather than actually being any safer than any other spot in the Tower. 

This was the spot he needed right now, though, after the bad day he'd had. There hadn't been anything about the day itself, just his brain not wanting to cope. Too many memories, too much jumping at shadows, not enough staying in bed this morning cuddling instead of listening to the Avengers Assemble alert go off for what turned out to be a false alarm and a mutant whose only power was turning people's hair green. Neon, glow in the dark, zombie green according to Clint, which apparently explained the ensuing panic and call for the Avengers.

Bucky hadn't slept well last night so he'd been off the rotation, and waiting for word that Iron Man and the others were fine hadn't helped with his overall state of mental calm. So now he was sitting on the floor, pressed in-between Tony's legs. He didn't ask, couldn't find the words for what still felt like a really stupid request. But Tony never laughed at him, never gave him a look that said _are you kidding me._ He never made Bucky say the words out loud, either, after the first time he'd stammered through a jumbled explanation. Now all Bucky had to do was put himself into a good position and wait.

Soon as he settled, he felt Tony's hand in his hair. Stroking gently, carding his fingers carefully through Bucky's hair, checking for tangles and knots. Bucky had taken to brushing his hair out first, because letting Tony tug at actual tangles did absolutely nothing to relax him and everything to put him even more on alert. So he'd showered an hour ago, the water nice and hot to get his muscles as relaxed as he could force them to be, then he'd washed and dried his hair and brushed it loose.

Now he let his boyfriend play with his hair. Tony was good at it – starting slow, running his fingers through the entire length of Bucky's hair, like he could sit and do this all night. Maybe he could; Bucky wouldn't put it past him to try. Bucky himself could never stay awake for the whole thing to find out how long he went for, but that was sort of the point.

Right now Tony was slipping his fingertips through Bucky's hair, lifting the ends a bit, pulling loose hair towards him for a very gentle tug on Bucky's scalp. He felt a shiver run from his head all the way down to his feet, and he closed his eyes. Tony kept working, letting his fingernails scratch Bucky's scalp lightly, so lightly sometimes Bucky wasn't even sure he could feel anything and was only imagining the touch. Then there was the firm, slow pressure of hands in his hair, and goosebumps spread out across Bucky's neck and down his arms.

He made a soft noise and heard Tony muffle a laugh. Then a hand pushed his head gently to the left, and Bucky went, letting his head fall sideways onto Tony's knee. The scalp massage continued with Tony lifting strands of his hair and running fingers through it, pulling ever so slightly and scratching gently enough to not trigger any reaction of alertness or pain. 

Bucky made another noise, and he heard somebody muffling a comment behind a cough, but he didn't have the energy to flip them off. There was the thump of a pillow against something solid like a head, so he managed a thumb's up in gratitude. Then Tony dragged his fingers down Bucky's neck and yeah, okay, the noise that came out of him then was usually reserved for the bedroom. 

His entire body was slowly turning to goo, held up only by Tony's legs and the front of the couch. Bucky didn't think he could have opened his eyes even had HYDRA walked in – if they tried to use any secret codewords on him he wouldn't even be able to stand up, much less murder anybody.

Maybe he should mention that to S.H.I.E.L.D., even if they claimed there was nothing more to worry about.

Tony was still running his hands through Bucky's hair, and Bucky took a deep breath. He was gonna be fast asleep soon, which was perfect and awesome, but he also wanted desperately to stay awake so he could keep feeling this. He whimpered, because he'd never managed to stay awake for the entire scalp massage – Tony threatened to show him security footage to prove he kept going after Bucky fell asleep, because playing with Bucky's hair while he slept was apparently a sappy and romantic thing. All Bucky had seen was the look on his sound-asleep face, and he'd suddenly understood a lot better why Steve got that stupid look on his face whenever Bucky mentioned Tony or uttered the word 'boyfriend.' Bucky had punched him more than once on principle for looking so misty-eyed and stupid at him. And it wasn't just Steve, but all the Avengers and a couple of the S.H.I.E.L.D. people and mostly Bucky remembered being a ghost and a legend and nobody was up in his business with not a little bit of wistfulness.

Even if he to cope with radiating approval from all of their friends, it didn't stop some of them from objecting to Bucky's head-massage noises during movie night. He wanted to say, tough shit Barton, grow your hair out and maybe Coulson will do the same for you, but talking was a lot of effort and did he really want to encourage Clint to make sex-noises in the living room. Right now, Bucky just wanted to stay awake long enough to – yes. Fucking yes. He felt Tony lifting a small handful of hair, then another. 

He couldn't stop himself from smiling as Tony began braiding his hair. He teased sometimes Tony about even knowing how, and Tony never answered him seriously – once he'd tried to claim that Butterfingers used to have hair, another time he said Rhodey had grown out an afro and taught him to braid it.

Tony was a big lying liar, but really he didn't actually, because it felt so incredibly amazing. Bucky suspected he'd taught himself how once they'd discovered how much Bucky liked it, and if Pepper or Tasha had provided help practising, Bucky didn't really need to know. It wasn't like he wore his hair in braids, he just loved the feel of it, Tony's hands working his hair into fancy or even boring braids, braiding then finger-coming them out over and over, until Bucky was sound asleep against Tony's legs.

Goosebumps flashed down Bucky's entire body, and yeah, so sue him, he made another happy-contented-fuck me noise, and Clint could just go watch movies in his own apartment if he minded. 

He tried to turn his head and give Tony's leg a kiss, because holy cow, he felt better, he felt relaxed when he hadn't been all day, and he managed to get his arm around Tony's ankle and held on, hopefully forever.

~ ~ ~

When Bucky opened his eyes, he was lying on the floor in front of the sofa. The television was off and everybody else was gone, while Tony was sprawled half-beneath and half-beside him. There was a pillow stuck under his head and two more under Bucky's, with a pile of blankets thrown on top of them. Tony was sound asleep, one arm wrapped around Bucky's neck. 

He had no idea how long he'd been asleep, nor any idea how to move without waking Tony. He didn't know if he should get up and carry his boyfriend to an actual bed – once woken, Tony tended to stay awake, so Bucky hated to risk it, even if it meant Tony'd have a sore back or neck from sleeping on the floor all night. The super-soldier serum meant that Bucky could sleep anywhere without suffering for it, but he hated to think Tony would be stiff and aching when he got up. 

Managing to get one hand free, Bucky signed to JARVIS, asking the time. A small holographic screen appeared in mid-air nearby, letting him know it was 5:31 a.m. Too early for Tony unless he hadn't gone to bed at all, but just about the time of day Steve would be dragging his ass out of bed to go for a run. Bucky sometimes joined him, sometimes stayed in his nice warm bed to cuddle. 

This wasn't nearly as comfortable as Tony's bed, but it was nice and warm, and Tony looked like he was happy to sleep right where he was. Well, then, Pepper had told him about all the times she'd found him asleep slumped over his desk, or worktable, or on the monstrosity of a couch he had down in the workshop.

So maybe this was a step up, though for sheer mocking value, Bucky was pretty certain he was going to hear about this later. 

Which meant he might as well stay right where he was. If Tony was sore, they could cope with that with a rubdown or a hot bath – Bucky owed him something for last night, even if Tony never agreed the massages had to be repaid. Getting his hands all over his boyfriend was hardly a difficulty, he claimed, and the dark look in his eyes said he understood all too well how badly Bucky needed it sometimes.

Bucky laid his head back down and closed his eyes. He didn't fall back to sleep, really, just dozed off and on for a couple of hours until he felt Tony begin to stir. He waited, then Tony groaned, softly, and tried to stretch without jostling Bucky.

“You need me to carry you to a nice warm bath to get you loosened up, and bring you coffee?” Bucky asked and Tony's eyes popped wide open.

“Yes, please. And donuts. Can we have donuts?” He looked cute and beseeching, like he thought Bucky had ever once denied him an unhealthy breakfast. That was for JARVIS, who would refuse to order a couple dozen donuts until Tony had eaten some muesli or oatmeal like a responsible adult.

Bucky leaned over and kissed him, slow and thorough. Tony let his head fall back onto the floor and Bucky went with him, sliding on top of him, careful to keep the blankets in place. It wasn't cold, not by a long shot thanks to modern air conditioning and a responsive AI that understood about not wanting to wake up cold and therefore disoriented. But the blankets felt nice, like it was still nighttime and made Bucky imagine he could feel the lingering touches of his scalp massage.

Thinking of it, he kissed Tony again, thinking words he could never quite manage to say out loud. It was embarrassing, no matter what anybody said, and sometimes it was hard to even know what he wanted much less be able to voice them.

Luckily Tony seemed to understand, had been the one to talk to Bucky back at the beginning about touch-starvation and all the ways positive touches had real effects in the brain, healthy ones, and that he could even get Bucky's doctor to prescribe massages and hugs and kisses if it would make him feel more comfortable asking. Bucky had asked if tickle fights counted as positive touches, and that was when he'd discovered his boyfriend had ticklish feet and knees, and the high-pitched squealing noises were something Bucky kept a recording of on his phone to re-watch as often as he wanted.

Bucky wasn't ticklish, and he'd discovered through “scientific experimentation” that neither was Steve, but Clint was and Bruce was a bit, on his neck, though he got growly and green if you tickled him too much. (Oddly enough, Hulk was extremely ticklish, and a couple of times they'd got him calmed down and turned back into Bruce that way.) Tasha wasn't, and no one had dared try Pepper after she'd glared at them when they'd asked. 

Right now he just wanted to kiss Tony and stay wrapped up in blankets, and move the clock back a couple hours so the sun wouldn't rise just yet.

“JARVIS, make it be 5 o'clock again, and keep the windows blacked,” Bucky said, and Tony grinned. 

“I like the way you think,” he said, and he pulled Bucky back down, under the blankets.


End file.
